All-CNY Spring 2014

Not that she needed to prove anything to her coach or teammates, but Solvay junior Jackie Gardner showed her mettle in the late innings of a June 6 regional final softball game against Windsor.

After powering the Bearcats to 5-0 lead with a grand slam home run in the fourth inning, Gardner surrendered a pair of homers to the Section IV champions, who pulled to within two runs, at 5-3, in the fifth.

It was shades of 2013 for Gardner and Solvay, who were sent home in last year's regional final by a seventh-inning Windsor rally that led to a 4-2 defeat.

"I was a little concerned, wondering what she had left in the tank," Solvay coach Phil Merrill said. "But she dug down deep. I think those bad memories from the year before started to flood her mind, and that's when she put an end to that and took over the game."

Gardner slammed the door on Windsor, including pitching a perfect sixth inning, and the Bearcats advanced to the state final four with a 6-3 win.

Pitcher of the Year Jackie Gardner and Player of the Year Alicia Hansen of Liverpool pose in downtown Syracuse during the All-Central New York softball team photo session June 19. (Mike Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com)

Solvay didn't win the big prize, advancing to the state Class B final before losing 1-0 to Eden in eight innings. But Gardner is this year's Syracuse.com and Post-Standard All-Central New York Pitcher of the Year after leading her team to a 22-2 record and a No. 2 ranking in the final state softball poll.

"I wasn't expecting it really," Gardner said this week from Aurora, Colo., where she's competing in a travel softball tournament. "It's just a great honor to have."

Merrill said the soft-spoken Gardner - the second of two sisters who have starred on the diamond for Solvay - is one of those players whose personality off the field belies her competitive fire on it.

"Jackie is probably one of the most tenacious competitors I've ever had the opportunity to coach. She crosses the foul line and gets to the pitching rubber and you wouldn't know it's the same kid," he said.

That attitude helped Gardner, who has made a verbal commitment to join her older sister, Julie, at Radford University in 2015, go 18-1 this season.